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Trees will fit in ' z 'S z- Dennis Lueck should be commended for his Try innovative a good advice about the trees planted on Olive pproach Street. If anyone knows trees, he does. Why does Eugene employ an urban forester Of course, the city rejects his view because who will have taken more than two years to it's right. The city has paid out millions to ad- "become integrated into the system" and who was visers, and all it gets is one failure after anoth- waves, obviously hired to not think, to make no er. waves, to show no creativity? I, like many, many others, don't ever go And why is the man with the genuine initia- downtown except when absolutely necessary— ti e city's e knowledge and f forced to es? ique the me it's to transfer buses. Well, when the e cty's s t tree program from the sidelines? trees die they will fit in with everything else Eugeneans are being cheated out of the down there —dead. chance to experience an innovative approach GLADYS GRANCORVITZ to tree planting and maintenance that truly Eugene I 1_3o _4 Z reflects the magnificence of living with a diver- sity of trees. All this was made abundantly clear in The Register - Guard's article of Dec. 16. Is anyone with clout in city politics listening? GERALD MORSELLO Eugene 2. - 3t -9 Z_ Trees lose in Eugene The effectively organized development -at- any -cost business elite have once again pres- sured the Eugene City Council into a shortsight- ed decision. Aided by Mayor -elect Ruth Bascom's disap- pointing vote, the council, in a 5-4 squeaker, decided to ignore two years of citizen grass- roots efforts to protect area trees, particularly heritage trees, from being mowed down at whim. The Lane County Builders Association and the Eugene Chamber of Commerce found another unlikely ally In Jan Staszewski, Eu- gene's urban forester, who supported the no- protection gang in recommending "voluntary compliance" and exclusion of the urban growth boundary areas, saying, "I'm being pragmatic ... These are tough economic times for the city" (Register- Guard, Oct. 16). Staszewski also adopted a strange position, mostly prone, regarding the dispute over the use of root restrictors on the 23 red maples planted as part of the more than $700,000 Olive Street boondoggle. Both Dennis Lueck, a na- tionally known urban forestry consultant and teacher, and Gary Washburn, the widely re- spected local landscape contractor who did the planting, disagree with the wisdom and neces- sity of this method. Lueck maintains that healthy, unrestricted red maples, if allowed to grow to their full height of 50 to 60 feet, would provide canopies much taller than any traffic or building sign (Register - Guard, Dec. 16). Staszewski, whose salary we pay, admits that he "didn't play much of a role in the de- bate" and says, "for me to get integrated within the system may take awhile" —even though he's been on the job for two years. I suggest that our well -paid urban forester start standing up for healthy trees or that he stand aside for someone who will. JEROME GARGER Eugene